Bruce Huang Gang was easily his teachers' favourite student. He did his homework, sat in the front row and paid attention to every word they said. Meanwhile, some of his classmates were staring out of the window, playing with their smartphones or whispering to their buddies.

On any given day, amid the manicured lawns and I.M. Pei-designed blocks of the Shanghai campus of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), the next generation of business ideas are being traded and discussed.

On July 25, the School of Business and Management at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will become the latest international business school to join the rush tapping into a new craze for advanced management degrees on the mainland.